This invention relates to an apparatus for transferring wheelchair invalids into and out of a motor vehicle seat. More particularly, this invention relates to an invalid car lift which can be easily folded up and carried in the trunk of the automobile, along with the folded up wheelchair.
Polio victims, paraplegics and others who have lost the use of their legs and are therefore confined to wheelchairs have a difficult time getting into and out of automobiles. Accordingly, there has been a recognized need for a portable apparatus that could be carried in the car trunk to enable an invalid to be quickly and easily transferred for his wheelchair into a car seat and vice versa. Prior invalid car lift devices are known and examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,650,725, 3,656,637, 3,677,424 and 3,983,584.
The invalid car lift of U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,637 includes an extendible bar having a winch mechanism attached thereto. The extendible bar is configured for mounting onto the side rain gutter of an automobile. It will be appreciated that such mounting entails certain difficulties in view of the fact that many rain gutters cannot support the weight of the lifting device and invalid being carried thereby. In addition, many modern vehicles no longer include rain gutters thereon.
The other above-noted patents also suffer from certain drawbacks and deficiencies. For example, many of these prior art devices have many parts and are cumbersome and bulky. As a result, these prior art devices are expensive to manufacture and difficult to use.